<p>"Do be aware, though, that many universities are factory repair sites for the brands the U pushes. We bought a Dell for our D directly with a good coupon, and have avoided the hassle and cost of sending the machine to Dell twice now for warranty repairs. The U did it for no cost to us, and the turnaround was only a few days."</p>
<p>Are there any particular brands/models that seem advantaged to own at Columbia? On-site or local repair for these brands? Yes you're in NYC, which ought to help for repairs generally, but if there's a shop within a few blocks that services particular models, maybe connected to the University, that may be better than going downtown to J&R, or whatever. (don't know that J&R does any repairs, actually...).</p>
<p>Anyway, just wondering if any brands are kind of "hooked up" with Columbia, or if there's otherwise any advantage to a particular brand due to what's over there specifically, in terms of support, etc.</p>
<p>I know my daughter had some laptop problems last year, had to ship it out and was without it for two weeks. Not good for a college student.</p>
<p>Are there any recommended laptop repair shops in the area? And if so, do they service particular brands?</p>
<p>This doesn't answer your question about repairs, but it does discuss some of the other choices you are going to have to make when choosing a computer for your daughter.</p>
<p>Personally, I think I'm going for a Macbook Pro.</p>
<p>May I suggest BestBuy or Circuit City. Various locations throughout NYC and offer specialized same-day repair/replacement extended warranty services (for an extra charge on top of the PC price.)
Those two would really be your best bet as far as hassle-free repair. I went through the same crap with dell over and over again and finally got a Sony Vaio from BestBuy. It has only failed me twice in the past year or so but on both occasions the PC was repaired on the same day.
P.S. Your daughter could always just make friends with some geeky Computer Engineering student - problem solved.</p>
<p>That post about colleges being repair sites really applies more to schools that force students to buy a certain computer (like RPI and lenovo thinkpads or VA Tech and gateway) to my knowledge, there is no such thing at columbia.</p>
<p>Also, i dont know of any repair shops around morningside heights. Shraf, Denzera, C2002, C2007, etc may know more than i do tho.</p>
<p>Like you said tho, it's NYC. We do have the most awesome underground mac store in the world right next to FAO Schwartz ;)</p>
<p>I desperately wish I could've had a laptop while at columbia. would've been tremendously useful. My advice on that is to avoid Dell laptops at all costs - and that IBMs (especially thinkpads) are pretty good.</p>
<p>i don't know if there's an institutional preference or buying program or repair shop. You can call CUIT and see what they do; look up their number on the CU website.</p>
<p>I still recall that my son had to struggle for a week to get his Apple laptop-harddisk repair done in NYC. Tough to get by u-writing without a laptop handy in the first year.</p>
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I still recall that my son had to struggle for a week to get his Apple laptop-harddisk repair done in NYC. Tough to get by u-writing without a laptop handy in the first year.
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<p>there are two apple stores in manhattan....granted though repairs are going to be more expensive in nyc no matter where you go.</p>
<p>i got through u writing just fine without a laptop</p>
<p>I worked for the former incarnation of CUIT and used to be more of a computer geek than I am now, so I feel like I have some (albeit, potentially outdated) street cred with this one.</p>
<p>There's no brand that is preferable to own on the basis of any connections that any brand has to the university. I don't even know of any repair shop in the area. If you wanted to walk into a repair shop, beware that hole-in-the-wall no-name establishments in NYC are likely going to be ripoffs and potentially scam artists. I think the tech people at a BestBuy/J&R/CircuitCity are also generally overpriced and incompetent, but I'd suggest a place like that over a no-name place (if you want somewhere to walk your computer into) because it's easier to bit** to a big company it something goes wrong.</p>
<p>The delay in being without your computer for a long time is a huge issue. The holdup isn't the labor to fix the thing, but ordering a part from the manufacturer. Most repairs can be done in a couple hours once the person doing your repair has the parts. On that basis, paying extra for some BestBuy extended warranty still isn't going to get your part there any quicker than Gateway decided to send it to them. If you're risk-averse and don't mind paying extra for peace-of-mind, I'd get a laptop known to be very reliable (e.g., IBM/lenovo) and pay extra for a next-day on-site warranty from the mfgr.</p>
<p>The "find an engineering friend" is also a good solution particularly for girls, and the success of that plan will in all likelihood depend on how cute the girl is. Also, the students who work for CUIT often do "freelance" work for very reasonable prices; you're better off paying a CUIT student employee who is a Computer major at Columbia than some Devry grad who's a "tech" at Best Buy. But then again, if the issue is getting parts, the engineering friend can't get parts.</p>
<p>well, even the best buy dude would probably end up shipping it out to a facility if it needs parts. and the Columbia guy can do that for you as well.</p>
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well, even the best buy dude would probably end up shipping it out to a facility if it needs parts. and the Columbia guy can do that for you as well.
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<p>As a general rule, if you need a part (that's not something anybody can replace himself), the mfgr won't send the part directly to you and will only send it through an "authorized repair center" (i.e., the best buy dude and not the Columbia dude).</p>
<p>get a thinkpad and get the 3 year warranty from lenovo. they're a little more spendy, but well worth it.</p>
<p>i've had very good luck with thinkpads (they tend to have higher build quality) and their service is great.</p>
<p>the power supply failed on my notebook last year... i called them up and they ups'd me a new one no questions asked. i didn't even have to return the old one.</p>
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the power supply failed on my notebook last year... i called them up and they ups'd me a new one no questions asked. i didn't even have to return the old one.
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<p>so you paid at least 2 or 3 hundred for a service plan and all you got was a $40 power supply.....congrats</p>
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so you paid at least 2 or 3 hundred for a service plan and all you got was a $40 power supply.....congrats
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<p>If companies lost money selling insurance, Warren Buffet wouldn't be one of the richest men in the world. </p>
<p>I mean, I think most people would rather be a "loser" rather than a "winner" on their insurance policies. If you pay $300 for a computer warranty, would you rather get $150 of value out of it with minimal hassle, or would you rather your computer break down and case you $500 worth of damage?</p>
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so you paid at least 2 or 3 hundred for a service plan and all you got was a $40 power supply.....congrats
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<p>actually i bought mine used off craigslist with about 29 months of warranty remaining. but that's neither here nor there, nor is it something i would recommend to anyone who is unfamiliar with computers...</p>
<p>sure, any idiot can spot that service plans in big box stores on dishwashers and stereos and other consumer electronics are a complete waste of money often costing 40-60% of the replacement cost of the unit itself.</p>
<p>however, ibm/lenovo service is not best buy and a computer is not a dishwasher. if you use your computer to fart around on the internet and play music/dvds, then a service plan is obviously a waste of time. if you really depend on it for work/school, like the OP mentioned, it's worth having a quality service plan where you can expect to get problems turned around in a few days with little hassle. </p>
<p>additionally, from an economic standpoint it makes sense... the two main major components that fail in laptops are the screens and the system boards. screens run about $400 in parts and around $200 for installation where system boards are about the same. thinkpads are pretty bulletproof, but if you run into either of these more common failures (which i've been lucky enough to avoid) the service plan pays for itself both in direct cost of repair, time saved in expedited repair and energy saved in locating someone reputable to service the unit.</p>
<p>to refute your weakly conceived jeer... is it worth a couple hundred up front to avoid a surprise expense, the time and hassle in finding a reputable repair shop, the increased downtime incurred by having a third party repair the unit instead of the manufacturer and the risk of having an unpleasant experience with that third party resulting in even more downtime? umm, yes.</p>